How a Kenyan Living in the US Was Conned Sh10 Million by a Friend in Kenya

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has taken up a case where a Kenyan living in the US was reportedly conned Sh10 million by a 'friend' in Kenya.

This comes after activist Boniface Mwangi highlighted the matter on social media claiming that a senior police officer is helping the alleged fraudster escape justice.

The suspect, John Karundo Mukundi, alias Tony, is said to have lied to the diaspora man only identified as Nesphor that he had won a tender for supply of construction materials to a construction site in Nairobi's Westlands area.

Nesphor said he first met Tony in Kansas, USA in 2007 before meeting him again 10 years later to inform him he was going back to Kenya to join his father in the supply business.

After returning to Kenya, Tony maintained contact and after some time he revealed to him that he was opening a business; Blacky’s Bar and Restaurant in Hurlingham, Nairobi. It emerged later that he was not the owner of the entertainment joint.

A year later, Tony told Nesphor that he had secured a contract from Avic for supply of the materials but didn't have enough cash. He invited him to be his partner in the venture.

Lured by the seemingly sweet deal, Nesphor agreed to be his partner and tasked his father to be in charge. However, Tony quickly tricked Nesphor's dad and ended up conning him a total of $100,000 (Sh10 million) he sent for purchase of the construction materials.

Nesphor sent the cash through digital app Wave, which he says he drew from his personal savings and borrowing from family and friends.

In the alleged tender, Tony was to give Nesphor 50 percent of the Sh91.77 million, which Tony through doctored documents claimed was the profit from the tender.

Nesphor later established that Tony had defrauded another friend of Sh1 million, which he borrowed with a promise to repay in two weeks.

Nesphor also learnt that Tony had escaped the US after being sentenced to five years in prison.

“He had been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for filing false federal income tax returns. Tony had pleaded guilty to 14 counts of making false claims and 12 counts of wire fraud. In Kenya, he was a known conman and in court for allegedly assaulting a woman after she demanded Ksh 800,000 he owed her."

Boniface Mwangi in the post said Nesphor has been looking for Tony for the last one month, but that a flying squad officer has been frustrating his efforts.

“He and his dad gave statements and all the evidence they had. The Flying squad officer claim they went to Tony’s residence in Kasarani area, but he refused to come out, insisting that he could only do so with his lawyer. And then his family connections kicked into play. His father called a powerful officer, a Mr Kingori, who called the flying squad officers, told them to stand down and promised to arrest and bring Tony in for questioning himself. There was no further progress forthcoming from the flying squad after the call from Mr Kingori,” it says.

“Nesphor also reported the matter to Kasarani Police Station and a sympathetic officer shared with him a brief history of their encounter with Tony, who he said vandalizes people’s property and doesn’t fear the law, since his father allegedly a powerful man in the area. Kasarani Police relayed information about negative encounters with Tony, including rumours that he owned guns and took Nesphor to see Tony’s family residence, a huge imposing place with heavy security, electric fence and CCTV cameras,” adds the post.

In a tweet, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) asked activist Mwangi to supply it with more information on the matter.

"Good evening @bonifacemwangi. We will be more grateful if you share with us the OB number & Police Station where the matter was reported for us to investigate & take appropriate action. Thank you," DCI said.

I was conned KShs 5,000,000 by a nephew. I loaned him the cash to open up a auto oarts shop. Needless to say, I was helping him to get him out of roaming on the streets of Nairobi after graduating from UoN. Well, the family relaships have now been strained across the family tree. Bro, I feel your pain but you will recover and move on wisely.

@MkenyaHalisi-When you see people not investing in Kenya, it is not because wamelalia masikio. It is because of such traumatic experiences. Just because your relatives or friends have been supportive of your endeavors does not mean everyone goes through same experience.

It was quite a sum. It is very painful because l have never been able to talk to her, 5 yrs and still counting. Remember, it was money to build her a house. When the amount exceeded 1 million kshs, I thought she was being conned by mafundis so l told my nephew to go do math with her. My nephew was like.....aunty unaongea kuhusu nyumba gani juu hakuna nyumba cucu anajenga. The rest is history.........

Pole sana @ Mucene. Sometimes in life you find that you can only trust yourself. I see so many people being called mean or stingy but with good reason. Apart from breaking that trust, it's hard to mend such relationships. Inaumaga moyo sana.

I have also been a victim of Kenyan cons. I was conned by some guy called Moses Sitima who pretended to be a contractor of Kenya Power, Thika. Through pretense as a Kenya Power contractor, he has been fraudulently stealing money from his victims by promising to install electricity at your housing projects, if you have one. Once he gets a portion of the money, you never see him or hear from him again. I was conned shs. 190,000 which is not much but the problem is that I have nothing to show for it. I reported him to Kenya Power and to the Director of Public Prosecutions and presently, he is being hunted to arrest.

I have had close friends conned by one or both parents. In one sad situation in my stateside neighborhood, the individual no longer speaks to his parents and hasn't in years. This makes me even more grateful to what my late dad did for me when he was alive. He didn't touch a coin of any monies meant for a specific purpose.

We all know Money is the root of all evils. I’ve always avoided business ventures with family, can’t risk loosing them. I have been blessed to have a trusted family to partner with back home, an Indian family who own and ran my old primary school. I help them invest here and they oversee mine at home. 20 years and going no issues. Can’t imagine the pain of being played by a loved one, but when it’s mom? That would kill me literally.

I call bull.... you can extremely love money n do good with it. All animalistic instincts are geared towards food thus survival. Man has objectified survival to mean money. Point out any modern conflicts that wasn’t instigated by money; wealth, stature, food, land or resources in general.whiteman calls it ‘national interest. Animals kill for food, defense and preservation. Even priests spend money to groom their victims so yes I know the difference n will stick with ‘money is the root of all evils’. Oh and by the way the quote precedes me it’s been used for eons n it’s a FACT.

A Kenyan journalist once said that (l paraphrase) dishonesty and corruption are the definition of being Kenyan. Last year l married a Kenyan woman out of simple love. I sent her to school and put her in a nice apartment of her own choosing while we waited for her visa so she can join me stateside. I also bought a piece of land and built a house for her mother. As soon as the house was completed she pretty much disappeared. It turns out that she knew that she could never qualify for a visa as she could not obtain a police certificate of good behavior. She also had a mental illness which she failed to disclose. Her family were complicit in the deception. These people give Kenyans a bad reputation. Price tag: 5 milion shillings. Is doing business of any kind with Kenyans the definition of stupidity? I know that Karma will take care of this so l am letting it go.

Deal with Kenyans at your own risk. Generally, they are a very dishonest, corrupt people as the journalist said. My best advice: TRUST NOBODY in Kenya and you’ll have some sense of peace. Kenyans bure kabisa!

in the west if you want a loan you go to the bank. In Kenya we turn to friends and family . they ask a loan to start a business but never offer a share or interest after profits. because we want to help we never ask anything in return. I learnt to say NO the hard way and i ask all of you - do not trust if you want to keep a relationship the only way is to refuse to borrow the money because you do not want to have sleepless nights while someone is sleeping like a baby . If you want to start business in Kenya , spend that flight cost and go and do it yourself . So many have gove this journey . sorry for the honest Kenyans we cannot afford to give anyone confidence of doubt

I live in the US. I was first corned 3M by a real estate agent called Wycliff Abok. I used all the tools at my disposal and recovered all my money plus interest. Though it took 2yrs.

I now have issues with investing through the family members. Never want to be answerable yet they have your money. I tell everyone be careful counting too much on trust. You will be disappointed. Don't put your lifelong savings in somebody's hands. Better have full control of it yourself.

a guy from Kijabe Mr Stephen macharia approached me with a business idea and i decided to be his partner, we were to buy some equipment to start off the venture,i send him 25000/=through mpesa to go to Nairobi and purchase the items only to learn later that he used the money for his own needs.from that day he started avoid me all through

a guy from Kijabe Mr Stephen macharia approached me with a business idea and i decided to be his partner, we were to buy some equipment to start off the venture,i send him 25000/=through mpesa to go to Nairobi and purchase the items only to learn later that he used the money for his own needs.from that day he started avoid me all through

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